Charlotte, Michigan-Eaton County is part of a pilot program to recycle agricultural plastic film. It started in July, but did not find many recipients.

Every year, Michigan farms ship nearly 6 million pounds of plastic film to landfills.

To mitigate the impact, Eaton County became part of a pilot program for the recycling of agricultural plastic films developed in cooperation with the Michigan Recycling Alliance and the Michigan Department of Agriculture.

The project involves “setting up locations and centers where these materials can be discarded, and then we collect certain types of plastics from agricultural products in these centers, such as bail plastic, pallet packaging, mulching film in some cases, stretch packaging,” the project coordinator Katherine Fournier said.

Since the pilot program was launched in July, one participant and a second participant have recently scheduled an appointment.

Eaton County's resource recovery coordinator Morgan Feld Pash said: "I think a large part of it is the early aspects, and not many people are aware of the plan. We have been working hard to promote it. Word of mouth is an important part of it. . That’s what I think is the general seasonality of the materials... People may be too busy to bring them in right now, or they may not use them."

Feldpausch encourages farmers to recycle these materials correctly, and said that the county hopes to participate in the pilot program, because "we want to be part of the promotion of recycling, and a large part of it is to use materials that we do not recycle now, especially those who are not widely accepted here. ."

The process of recycling plastic film is very simple. All you have to do is fill out the registration form online or over the phone. This provides information about what you are carrying so that officials can be prepared to receive materials. The charge is 8 cents per pound and the items are discarded at Sunfield Township Recycling Facility.

Fournier said that when these plastic films enter the landfill, they are a material that takes up a lot of space.

“We don’t have unlimited space to store trash and garbage,” Fournier said. “So, if these materials can be broken down and converted into new products, and eventually returned to our economy, it will not only benefit our economic environment and the state of Michigan. Local economy."

Fournier said that some of these materials can be made into roofs, decks, and sometimes other agricultural film products.

Feldpausch believes that participation will increase over time.

The pilot program has been approved for a year, but if it succeeds, Feldpausch hopes to continue it longer.

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